Sunday, January 27, 2013

Homemade Pumpkin Ravioli

I ordered this once at a restaurant in Montclair, NJ and I loved it so much I decided I had to make it myself. It turned out even better than I thought it would, but honestly it was no walk in the park. I made the pasta from scratch using my KitchenAid mixer and pasta roller attachment. If you are going to attempt this recipe, I suggest giving yourself a couple of hours to get everything done without having to rush. But in the end, all the hard work is worth it!

Here is the recipe that I ended up using. It includes a recipe and directions for egg pasta dough, the ravioli filling and then a white cream sauce to serve over the pasta.

Preparations

Have your KitchenAid mixer and pasta roller attachment nearby. Have the flat beater and dough hook attachments for the mixer ready.Clear counter space and place a sheet or two of parchment or wax paper down.Have flour for easy access.

Place the pumpkin puree, 2 tablespoons of butter, ½ tablespoon sage, ½ teaspoon thyme, ½ bay leaf and 1 cup of cream in a saucepan and simmer over low/medium heat for approximately 30 minutes stirring occasionally. When the puree is thick and most of the liquid has evaporated, lower the heat and whisk in 2 more tablespoons of butter and the eggs a little at a time. Simmer for another 2-3 minutes then add salt and pepper to taste. It was rather bland at first so I ended up adding quite a bit of salt here. I stored the filling in the fridge over night and made my ravioli the next day, otherwise, set the filling aside to cool.

Note: the amount of filling that I ended up with was a little excessive, but can be frozen for future use.

Making the basic egg pasta dough

I got this recipe from the book that came with my pasta attachments.

Ingredients

4 large eggs1 tablespoon of water3 ½ cups of all purpose flour½ teaspoon of salt

Directions

Add all of the ingredients into the mixer bowl and mix on a low level with the flat beater attachment for about 30 seconds. Remove the flat beater and replace with the dough hook attachment and knead the dough for 2 minutes on level 2. My dough was pretty sad looking, it actually didn’t even look like dough, but chunky flour so I slowly started adding tablespoons of water until it started to look like dough. When I finally got my desired dough texture by adding small amounts of water and flour, I kneaded it in the mixer for about a minute or so. In the pasta attachment book, it says that if the dough stays together without sticking to your fingers when you pinch it, it should work well. Mine slightly stuck to my fingers, but I continued on anyways. Sprinkle flour onto a clean countertop and hand knead the dough for 1 to 2 minutes then cover with a dish towel and let sit for 20 minutes. You are now ready to start your ravioli adventure.

Making the ravioli

After preparing the dough, cut it into 4 equal parts and set aside. Take one of the pieces of dough and with your hands, lightly stretch it into a somewhat flat sheet to pass through the pasta roller attachment. Make sure to lightly dust each side of the dough with flour to prevent sticking. Starting at level 1 on the roller, guide the pasta through while supporting each end. Turn you dial to 2 and repeat, then level 3 and repeat. I found that I got the best shape when I alternated which end I fed through the roller first.

After passing the dough through the roller on level 3, take the sheet of pasta and place it on your parchment paper. I found that the ravioli was a bit thick when eating so you could run the pasta through at level 4 once if you would like. Take the cooled filling and place spoonfuls equal distances along the sheet, I was able to have 2 wide.

Take the next ball of dough and repeat the roller process. Place the second sheet on top of the first and press down around each mound of filling to create pockets and then cut the dough to create your ravioli.

This step was a lot of fun and so satisfying to see the creation start to come to life. Repeat the whole ravioli process for the last two balls of dough and this should make enough for 4-5 servings.

Preparing the sauce

Before making the sauce, fill a large pot with water and place on high heat to boil.

Place the 2 cups of chicken stock in a saucepan and boil down to about half. Add 1 cup of cream and boil down half again. On low/medium heat, whisk in 4 tablespoons of butter and add the remaining herbs. I wanted my sauce to be thick and creamy so I slowly whisked in some flour while the sauce was simmering to thicken it. I found that the sauce did not need any salt, but you can season to your preference with salt and pepper.

While preparing the sauce, add the ravioli into the boiling water and cook for about 8 minutes. Do not overcook the ravioli or it will fall apart. Remove the ravioli from the water with a slotted spoon and set aside until the sauce is done, then serve!

If you are really on your game, you could throw some garlic bread with cheese in the oven to broil and serve with the pasta.

Have you tried pumpkin ravioli? Comment below to tell us what you think of this recipe.

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